Self-sealing label



July 7, 1970 w. JACKSTADT 3,519,525

SELF- SEALING LABEL Filed Sept. 27, 1966 0MM/7V??? INVENTogz.

BY E

United States Patent O M 3,519,525 SELF-SEALING LABEL Werner Jackstadt, Wuppertal-Sonnborn, Germany, as-

signor to Wilh. .lackstadt & Co., Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Sept. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 582,332 Claims priority, application Germany, Oct. 2, 1965,

29,110 Int. Cl. B32b 1/04 U.S. Cl. 161-44 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A label or the like non-removably adhering to an object to which the label is to be applied, comprising a carrier layer, at least one label disposed removably on the carrier layer, and including an adhesive layer means for nonaremova-bly adhering under the influence of humidity to an object to which the label is to be applied when the adhesive layer means is exposed to moisture when the label including the adhesive layer means is removed from the carrier layer, a protective layer at and covering each side of the adhesive layer means, the adhesive layer means comprising adhesive formers, to which 5% air hardening isocyanate is added, the protective layer means being impermeable to humidity, comprising a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene, polyterephthalic ester and the like, and one of the protective layer means is connected nonremovably to the carrier layer and the other of the protective layer means is non-removably connected to said label.

The present invention relates to a self-sealing or selfadhesive label or the like in general, or to such self-adhesive label or the like comprising a label sheet with a selfsealing layer covered by a protecting film, which can be drawn off, in particular, which self-adhesive layer leads to an irreversible connection with the object to which the label is applied under the influence of moisture, for instance, of the humidity in the air, or under the influence of carbonic acid contained in the air.

A reversible connection of a self-adhesive layer is herein defined to Ibe a connection which permits easy removal of the label, while an irreversible connection is herein defined to be an adhering of the label to an object in which the label is to be applied and in which the label cannot be removed.

A desired exists, for identification of different goods, particularly of pieces of laundry, to use self-adhesive labels, which are impervious to water, under circumstances also boil-proof and immune against the solvents of a chemical cleaning agent.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a self-sealing label, on which a self-sealing layer is provided, whieh leads to an irreversible adherence under the infiuence of moisture or the like and thus brings about an irreversible or non-removable securing of the label. This characteristic is of importance for the obtaining of the required adherence effect, if the piece of clothing or the like is inserted with the applied label into the washingand cleaning-liquid, respectively, such that the self-adhesive layer brings about an irreversible connection, conditioned, however, at the same time, on a disadvantageous presumption for storing, etc., and in particular, since the connection condition of the self-adhesive layer takes place also by air moisture and thus the label is rendered unusable prematurely.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-sealing label, which has a self-adhesive layer lead- 3,5l9,525 Patented July 7, 1970 ICC ing to the connection with a piece of clothing to which it is applied, even after the longest storage periods.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a self-adhesive layer, wherein the faces of the selfsealing layer have, on both sides, impermeable protecting layers. Due to such arrangement, a self-adhesive label is produced by comparatively simple means, which label is applicable also after a long storage period still -without any difficulty for a water-fast identification, particularly, in connection with pieces of clothing or the like to be Washed. The protecting layers close up the self-adhesive layer against influences of moisture or humidity and, thus, the conditioning of the layer for a connection with the piece of clothing or the like does not take place prematurely.

A further advantageous feature of the present invention resides in the fact that, one of the protecting layers is disposed between the bottom face of the label and the self-sealing layer, and the other of the protecting layers is disposed between the protecting lm and the drawing off layer. Thus, in spite of the provision of the moisture impermeable protecting layer on the protection film, the removal of the label from its carrier is not interfered with. Due to the circumstance, that the other protecting layer is disposed on the bottom side of the label, the latter itself can consist of a fabric, a film or paper.

In order to protect the self-sealing layer also at its marginal edges against a possible penetration of air humidity, in accordance with the present invention, the edge zones of each label disposed in a known manner on a carrier together with the protecting layer disposed on the bottom side is bent over in the direction of the carrier material, by stamping out the labels with knives formed correspondingly curved side of the knives on the layer.

Instead of or in addition a sealing impenetrable by moisture can also be obtained in accordance with the present invention by means of an edge formation of a lacquer impermeable to air extending along the marginal zones of the label disposed in known manner on the carrier. The edge formation of the lacquer can be easily and in a simple manner applied by pressure or the like.

With these and other objects in view 4which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective top view of a plurality of labels carried by a protecting carrier film;

FIG. 2 is a section of the label jointly with the protecting carrier film indicating schematically the specific formation of the marginal zones of the label; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section of a label corresponding with the showing in FIG. 2 indicating a second embodiment of the formation of the marginal zones.

Referring now to the drawing, and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be apparent that a protection carrier film 1 serving simultaneously as a carrier receives a plurality of self-adhesive labels 2. Instead of providing a sheet, also a storage roll can be provided which can be used in label dispensers.

IReferring now to FIG. 2 of the dra-wing, between the actual label sheet 3, which, depending upon the purpose of use, consists of fabric, film or paper, and the selfadhesive layer 4 is disposed a protecting layer 5. The latter is impermeable to moisture and can consist of polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene, polyterephthalic acid ester, or any other suitable material.

A similar protecting layer 6 covers the self-adhesive layer 4 from below, so that on both sides of the faces 4 and 4", layers insulating against moisture or humidity are disposed on both sides of the self-adhesive layer 4.

The self-adhesive layer 4 is equipped with a material having the ability, under the influence of water, to cause an irreversible connection with the object to which the label is to be applied and to which it is applied under pressure, for instance textiles, which connection is equivalent to a vulcanizing-like connection. The screening provided on both sides of the self-adhesive layer 4 stops the chemical process which can otherwise being at a low air humidity. The screening, accordingly, makes possible without loss the maintenance of greater storage quantities.

The self-adhesive layer can, by example, consist of the following composition:

100 parts by weight of a thin rst latex crepe (international indication IX);

50 parts by weight cumarin-indene resin, melting point 20 parts by weight of polyterpene resins, melting point 45 parts by weight paraffin oil; and

10 parts by weight of isocyanate (for instance, Desmodur L, trademark and product of Farbenfabriken Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany).

In order to counteract a premature reaction originating possibly from the marginal edges of the label, the marginal zones 7 of each label 2, jointly with the protecting layer disposed therebelow, are bent over during the stamping operating in the direction towards the carrying material. This has been found possible due to the compressbility of such self-adhesive layers. The stamping lknives 8 are disposed concave correspondingly at their narrowed point 9. They are effective additionally as in a stamping manner. The adjacent cutting portions 10 are, however, plane.

The waste portions 11 created during the stamping out of the labels 2 can be retained by the carrier 1. The carrier 1 itself is not separated. The cut terminates directly on the upper side of the carrier 1. The latter is formed by an adhesive material drawing off layer 12 and of silicon rubber, respectively. The drawing off layer permits the removal of the protecting film 1 without damage to the self-adhesive layer 4.

Referring now again to the drawing, and in particular to FIG. 3, a further possibility of the screening of the label edge is brought about by application of an edge formation 13 of a lacquer which is impermeable to air and moisture. This edge 13 is suitably pressed on. Depending upon the characteristic of the label, such as, for example, material thickness etc. in this case a bending over of the marginal zones 7, as shown in FIG. 2, can 'be neglected.

The base body of the protecting lm 1 consists pref-` erably of paper.

While I have disclosed several embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that these ernbodiments are given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determined by the objects and the claims.

I claim:

1. A label or the like non-removably adhering to an Object to which the label is to be applied, comprising a carrier layer,

at least one label disposed removably on said carrier layer, and including an adhesive layer means for non-removably adhering under the influence of humidity to an object to which said label is to be applied when said adhesive layer means is exposed to moisture when said label including said adhesive layer means is removed from said carrier layer,

a protective layer at and covering each side of said adhesive layer means,

said adhesive layer means comprising adhesive formers, to which 5% of air hardening, isocyanate is added,

said protective layer means being impermeable to humidity, comprising a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene, polyterephaltic ester and the like, and

one of said protective layer means is connected nonremovably to said carrier layer and the other of said protective layer means is non-removably connected to said label.

2. The label, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said other of said protective layer means that is connected non-removably to said label is stamp cut at the peripheral edge of said label extending thereat in the direction to said one of said protective layer means, both of said protective layer means cooperatively thereby preventing humidity from reaching said adhesive layer means.

3. The label, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said label defines margin zones at is periphery, said margin zones of said label and said other of said protective layer means are bent over in the direction toward said one of said protective layer means forming an edge zone at least partly spaced from said one of said protective layer means, and

an edge member comprising a lacquer which is irnpermeable to humidity is pressed onto said edge zone, sealing said edge zone.

4. The label, as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a drawing off layer means disposed on said one of said protective layer means, the latter between said carrier layer and said drawing off layer means, and

said adhesive layer means mounted on said drawing off layer means,

said drawing off layer means for being removable from said adhesive layer means when the latter is protected from said humidity by both of said protective layer means, said label with said adhesive layer means then being ready for unremovable adherence to said object to which it is to be applied under the influence of the humidity then exposed to said adhesive layer means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,304,787 12/1942 Avery 161-406 2,321,740 6/1943 Flint 161--149 2,596,179 5/1952 Seymour l6l-406 3,385,748 S/l968 Neale et al. ll-406 DOUGLAS I. DVRUMMOND, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 16l-167, 406 

